NJ Will Ramp Up Vaccine Outreach As State Lifts Most COVID-19 Restrictions

New Jersey officials want to ramp up vaccinations as the state plans to roll back most of its COVID-19 restrictions by May 19. 

Gov. Phil Murphy announced a series of vaccine outreach programs that he's calling "Operation Jersey Summer." It includes everything from offering a free beer to those who get a first dose this month to sending 900 trained volunteers door-to-door to sign people up for the shots. The state will also move available doses from the six megasites to nearby community centers and doctor's offices.

Montclair State University epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera said reallocating doses to primary care offices and targeting outreach to low-vaccination rate neighborhoods have the highest potential to improve vaccination rates among Blacks and Latinos, who make up more than a third of the state population but have received 17% of all doses.

"Moving some of those doses out of these megasites, which really require a car to get to in most cases, and moving them towards these more localized sites where they have a better relationship with the community is going to allow for a rebuilding or building of some trust for people," she said. "Where they feel like they can speak to their physician or to a clinician that they know."

The Department of Health did not immediately release more details on the initiatives, including which doctor's offices and community centers will receive doses and how many doses they'll receive. 

"More time was spent acknowledging the breweries where you can get a free beer if you've been fully vaccinated than stressing the importance of getting these doses out to primary care physicians’ practices," said Claudine Leone, government affairs counsel for the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians. The group has been pushing to get vaccine doses to family doctors for months. State officials said a handful of large medical offices and 23 federally-funded clinics have been giving out the shots.

Other "Operation Jersey Shore" initiatives include the state's vaccine call center reaching out to those who registered online for a vaccine but haven't made an appointment and offering more vaccination opportunities at houses of worship.

But community activists who have launched their own outreach initiatives said the state's digital appointment rollout left out many residents who don't have steady internet access, an email address required to register or who don't speak English.

New Jersey's vaccine registration site and appointment finder are still only available in English though state officials said translations are coming "soon." Additional translations were not part of Murphy's initiatives to target the unvaccinated. 

"What the governor and the state needs to do now is really recognize the differences on who wants the vaccine and hasn't been able to get it, who's unsure if they are willing to get the vaccine and simply needs more information or assistance in getting the vaccine. And then who are the people who are more deeply entrenched and not willing to get the vaccine," Silvera said. "And we might need to think more creatively about what's going to move the needle there."